RUSSIANS IN BULGARIA

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 September 1944, Page 5

RUSSIANS IN BULGARIA

ARMISTICE GRANTED CARPATHIANOPERATIONS LONDON, Sept. 10. The Russians, whp entered Bulgaria on Friday, had occupied the north-east corner of the country s by last night, and held half the Black Sea coastline. The Russian advance followed Bulgaria’s declaration of war against Germany. The declaration became effective at 6 o’clock on Friday evening. The Soviet Government agreed to the Bulgarian request for an armistice, and the Moscow radio announced that it had been found possible to accede to the request following Bulgaria’s declaration of war on Germany. The Russians’ entry into Bulgaria was announced in Friday night’s Soviet communique, which said that the Red Army had crossed the Rumani-an-Bulgarian frontier in the sector between Giurgiu and Nangalia, advanced between 19 and 60 miles, and occupied Rusek (also called Rusa), Silistra, and the port, of Varna; also a large number of inhabited localities. The Bulgarians did not resist the Red Army. Mr. Stalin, in an order of the day, announced that the important Bulgarian Black Seat port of Burgas, 30 miles from the Turkish border, and the town of Sum an, 50 miles west of Varna, have been captured by General Tolbukhin’s forces. General Tolbukhin’s troops have advanced and occupied Razgard, in addition to Sumen and Burgas. The Russians m two days have taken prisoner more than 21,000 Bulgarian troops and have rounded up 4000 Germans in the Razgard area. The Official German News Agency on Friday morning reported that the Russians crossed the Danube in the Giurgiu area with strong armoured and motorised forces, entering Bulgaria at three points simultaneously. The Soviet Information Bureau has announced that the Red Army has ceased operations against Bulgaria. “In view of the fact that the Bulgarian Government has broken off relations with Germany, declared war on her, and approached the Soviet Government with a request for an armistice, the Red Army from 10 a.m. to-day has ceased fighting Bulgaria,” said the statement. “The Russian Government, in co-operation with the British and American Governments, is working out conditions for an armistice with Bulgaria.” GERMAN LEADERS TAKEN. LONDON, September 9. “South-west of Lomza, the Russians continued to fight for the improvement of their positions, and dislodged the Germans from a number of places,” says Friday’s Soviet communique. “The Red Army, in cooperation with the Rumanians, occupied a number of localities in Rumania. Troops of the Second Ukrainian Front captured MajorGeneral Brandenburg, commander of the Ploesti oilfields. General Malinovsky’s troops also captured MajorGeneral Teschner, commander of a German brigade in the Ploesti area. The Moscow radio announced that 41 German generals have been captured since the'beginning of the Russian Summer offensive. Germans called up under Goebbels’s new total mobilisation decrees have already appeared on the Eastern Front. Many have been captured. ADVANCE IN TRANSYLVANIA. LONDON, September 10. The Budapest radio on Saturday night warned the Hungarians - that the Russians were about to take Cluj, the big Transylvanian town 90 miles from the Carpathians, and 90 miles from the eastern borders of pre-war 1 Hungary. The British United. Press says & that this is the first indication that the Russians have penetrated, so far across the Carpathians, and indicates that a complete breakthrough in the Carpathians has been effected. , ~ + A Soviet communique reports thai the Red Army on Saturday made fighting advances in Nor^ h 1 " Rumania and occupied more thmi 100 places. The Russians, m co-opeia-tion with the Rumanians captured Targul Sacuuse and Alba luha, and five large localities and loui railway stations in Central Rumania. A supplementary communique says that the Russians on the Rumanian fronts on Saturday took prisonci more" than 1000 Germans, including two divisional commanders. CAPITAL CAPTURED. (Rec. noon). LONDON, Sept. 10. The Germans are doing then utmost to check the on the Second Ukrainian Front edging tui ther into North Transylvania, said fhp Moscow radio to-night. ine Germans north-west of cc >£" centrated masses ot tanks, and the German and Hungarian infantry m G launching incessant counter-attacks. Reuter’s Moscow correspondent says: Malinovsky’s army group taking the mountain road to Budapest and beyond, are now aPP™acbing Hungarian-occupied TiansyLvania. The Germans and their Magyar allies are resisting strongly amid natural rock fortresses along the Red Army’s line of advance. The Ankara radio later quoting the Hungarian radio, said that the Red Army had captured Cluj, the capital of Transylvania. GERMAN ADMISSION. (Rec. noon) LONDON, Sept. 10. The Berlin radio commentator, yon Hammer says: The Russians in the drive southward and south-eastwaid between the Black Sea and Turnomaguerele have already occupied some Balkan passes. “The Russians apparently intend to use Bulgaria as a concentration area. They have crossed the Eastern Balkans and ai e now rolling on towards the Aegean coast. The Bulgarian Army is not offering any resistance. It seems to be in a state of complete disintegration.” To-night’s Soviet communique says: The Russians in North-eastern Rumania captured the town and railway station of Varna, 54 nules south-west of Cernauti. The Red Army in Central Rumania, in cooperation with Rumanian troops, captured Sfantul Gheorghe and 50 other places, including five railway stations.

, CZECH RISING.

LONDON, September 9

A Czechoslovak communique reports that In eastern Slovakia, which so far has not been liberated, the partisans now control large territories and German road and rail traffic has come to a complete standstill. There is little change in central and western Slovakia. Zilinia remains in Czechoslovak hands, and German pressure in the upper Vah Valley is now exerted from the east only. The 19th German S.S. Division is suffering very heavy casualties in its attempt to regain control of the Bohumin-Kosice. The Czechoslovak President (Dr. Benes), broadcasting from London, described the Slovak rising as one of the most glorious chapters in Slovak history. He appealed to Czechs to join in the revolt.

INCREASING PRESSURE

RUGBY, St ptember 10

“The enemy is increasing pressure along the railway from Kosice to Bo-

humin (important railway on the Hungary to Carpathian front), states a Czechoslovakia communique. The violence of the fluid battle in the area of Ziliniavrutky is growing. Several enemy attacks were repulsed with great losses. Central Slovakia is firmly in our hands. Strong partisan detachments are co-operating closely with our military units. In eastern Slovakia, they now control large areas. SUFFERINGS IN WARSAW. LONDON. September 10. To-day’s communique from General Bors, commander of the Polish forces in Warsaw, Reports that in the centre of the city there is unslackening pressure from the enemy from the direction of the old town and the west bank of the Vistula. In the suburb of Zoliborz the initiative remains with the Poles. The enemy continues terror shelling and bombing. In one region Hungarian troops and Ukrainian conscripts are replacing the Germans. „ . . , Information has reached the British Government of the tragic sufferings and hardships to which the civilian population of Warsaw has been exposed in the course of the fighting in the Polish capital. Civilian men, women, and children, wounded and infirm, as well as soldiers of the Polish Home Army, have been victims of German barbarity. Defenceless persons have been driven in front of German tanks as protection against the Polish forces. In its declaration on August 30 the British Government warned the Germans against violation of the laws and customs of war in their treatment of members of the Polish Home Army. It feels bound to issue a similar warning in regard to these German crimes against civilians. It will do all in its power to ensure that those responsible, whoever they may be, are made to answer for their crimes.

EAST PRUSSIAN FRONT.

SAVAGE RESISTANCE.

LONDON, September 9. “Thousands of Russian guns to-day are roaring a mighty cannonade as the Red Army proceeded with the reduction of the German Narew River defences barring the direct roads to East Prussia,” says Reuter’s Moscow correspondent. “Latest reports say that the Russians are oversteadily gaining ground on the east bank of the Narew, apparently above Ostroteka. The Red Army’s advance south-west of Lomza in the direction of East Prussia has slowed up but has not been checked as the result of German counter-attacks supported by tanks and aeroplanes. Russian patrols in the area of the Sesupa River between Lithuania and East Prussia crossed the frontier into East Prussia and returned with prisoners.” „ . The Official German News Agency reports that the Russians are continuing their attacks between the San and the Vistula. In the main thrust against Krasno, the enemy threw in powerful formations which succeeded in making a local breach in the German lines, but German grenadiers were able to limit the breach and aie now counter-attacking. LA TEP

The British United Press Moscow correspondent quotes a front line report saying the Red Army has penetrated the German prepared defence belt covering the approaches to East Prussia. Autumn rams have started on the northern and central fronts, but are not expected to hold up the Russians’ progress. GERMANS LEAVING FINLAND LONDON, September 10. German troops are pouring from north Finland into the eastern part of Finmark, Norway’s most northerly province, according to reports received from well-informed patriotic circles in Norway. It is not clear whether the German military leaders intend to keep them in northern Norwav or attempt to send them further south, but in either case they are faced with almost insuperable difhculUC Thc radio announced that Sweden has given permission for the transit of 500 German nurses from Finland to Germany. SWEDEN’S TRAFFIC BAN. LONDON, September 10. It has been officially announced that Sweden has suspended all German transit traffic to and from Norway by way of Sweden. Transits from one part of Norway to • another by way of Sweden are also banned. Reuter’s Stockholm correspondent «avs that Sweden in August, 1943, stopped all transit of soldiers and war materia], but food and clothing tor German forces were not classed as war material, and the continuance ol transit of these was allowed. Ihe present complete ban will deprive the Germans in Norway and Finland ol all supplies going overland. NEW BULGARIAN CABINET WAR AGAINST GERMANY LONDON, Sept. 10. The Sofia radio has announced that a new Bulgarian Government has been formed. It is headed by Georgiev. General Marinov, former Minister of War, has been, appointed Com-mander-in-Chief of the Bulgarian troops in the war against Germany. The Bulgarian radio says that all Bulgarian Cabinet Ministers who signed the German-Bulgarian pact in 1941 will be imprisoned. All laws against the interest of the people have been repealed, and pro-Axis newspapers have been banned. Wenelin, Ganev, and Touor Pavlov have been appointed regents, replacing Prince Cyril and General Mikhov. Patriotic demonstrations were held throughout Sofia last night. Hundreds of red flags were hoisted. The Bulgarian Government proclamation announcing the declaration of war against Germany and the restoration of a“ democratic regime in Bulgaria was broadcast by the Sofia radio. The proclamation welcomed the Red Army, appointed a new com-mander-in-chief, and dismissed a number of provincial governors and officials. , ~ , Reuter’s Balkans observer says that the new Bulgarian Government is a coalition of Republican officers, Agrarians, Socialists, Communists, and members of radical co-operative parties. Ganev is a distinguished scholar without a political background. Pavlov is a veteran Communist who has undergone long periods of imprisonment. , , , “Bulgaria’s outright participation in the war against Germany has turned approximately one-third of the total area of the Balkans into Allied territory.” says the Moscow correspondent of the Associated Press, summing up the position as a result of the latest developments. “It has transformed German withdrawals from southern Jugoslavia, Albania, Greece, and the Aegean Islands into a desperate’action which might end in final disaster for Germany at any moment. It is believed that the Germans will leave some troops in Crete and scattered among the Aegean Islands as suicide garrisons similar to those.-left behind in French ports. Their mission would be to delay as long as possible a link-up of Allied seapower between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.” The British United Press says that General Tolzukhin is now free to join in the general assault against the Germans in Bulgaria, Jugoslavia, and Greece.

The Istanbul correspondent of the Associated Press says that Filov, the former Bulgarian Prime Minister, and other Bulgarain pro-German personalities are reported to have fled to Germany.

JUGOSLAV ACTIVITY.

COMMUNICATIONS CUT.

LONDON, September 9. “Jugoslav forces in Serbia have severed all important communications with the north,” says a Jugoslav communique. “Units of the 14th Serbian Corps are marching to the Danube to join the Russians. Allxcommunications between Serbia and Macedonia have been cut. Jugoslavs in eastern Bosnia have routecj a German S.S. regiment and killed 350. All railway traffic in Slovenia is paralysed.” A Jugoslav special communique announces the capture of Zagetchar, five miles from the Bulgarian border. The town, which is the largest in eastern Serbia, was defended by 4000 Germans and Chetniks, of whom 1000 were captured. Many were killed. Marshal Broz’s forces are maintaining their advance to the Danube.

Marshal Broz’s Headquarters also announces that the Germans in Macedonia are concentrating all their forces for an attempt at a mass break through to the north. The partisans have already cut all the lines of communication between Macedonia and Serbia, also the main routes from Serbia northward where Marshal Broz’s forces are driving to the Danube to meet the Red Army. The Free Jugoslav radio has broadcast a statement from Marshal Broz’s headquarters denying reports that Allied land forces are operating in Jugoslav territory. The statement added that the struggle is being conducted only by the partisans in cooperation with the Allied air forces. The Germans are concentrating strong forces in Slovenia and Istria in. an effort to restore their lost lines of communication, all of which are paralysed. The Belgrade-Zagreb railway has been cut in 80 places and other lines radiating . from Zagreb have been put out of action. Marshal Broz, in an order of the day broadcast over the • Free Jugoslav Radio to the National Army of Liberation and the partisans, said: — “The great day has dawned. The Red Army is at Jugoslavia’s frontier. Strike mercilessly at the enemy’s columns, destroy his manpower. The heroic Red Army and our allies from the south and west are driving the German hordes towards Germany. We are no longer isolated, but linked with our great allies in the struggle for victory. Death to Fascism. Freedom to our peoples.” The Free Jugoslav Radio says that many Bulgarian soldiers have joined in the Serbian rising. British and American aeroplanes are continuously bringing up weapons and ammunition and taking back wounded. German quisling Chetniks are fleeing headlong from Eastern Serbia where the rising 1$ strongest. Reuter’s Continental observer says that a state of siege has been proclaimed at Zagreb, where conscripts revolted against the Government of the Croat quisling (Dr. Ante Pave-, litch), which is in dissolution. The Algiers radio says that the Greek flag has been hoisted on the Greek-Turkish frontier, which previously has been occupied by Bulgarian's. '